St. Thomas Aquinas on Eutrapelia

“Augustine says (Music. ii, 15): ‘I pray thee, spare thyself at times: for it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work.’ Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists in playful words or deeds. Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times. Moreover the Philosopher [Ethic. ii, 7; iv, 8] assigns to games the virtue of eutrapelia. Now just as weariness of the body is dispelled by resting the body, so weariness of the soul must needs be remedied by resting the soul: & the soul’s rest is pleasure, as stated above (I-II:25:2; I-II:31:1 ad 2). Consequently, the remedy for weariness of soul must needs consist in the application of some pleasure, by slackening the tension of the reason’s study. Thus in the Conferences of the Fathers xxiv, 21, it is related of St. John the Evangelist that when some people were scandalized on finding him playing together with his disciples, he is said to have told one of them who carried a bow to shoot an arrow. And when the latter had done this several times, he asked him whether he could do it indefinitely, & the man answered that if he continued doing it, the bow would break. Whence St. John drew the inference that in like manner man’s mind would break if its tension were never relaxed.” – ST II-II, q. 168, a. 2